A party of the Pegu light infantry battalion also proceeded on Sunday noon last to the village of Bholay, beyond the Poosoondown Creek, where a gang of dacoits have located themselves

The first fire of the season occurred on Sunday night last in the district of Lambodoh, near the river side, and just at the end of the new strand road. About sixty more houses were burnt,

The H. C. steamer Tenasserim returned from Maulmein on Sunday, and started for Calcutta on Monday noon last.

A detachment of H.M.'s 80th, and a detachment of a native regiment, embarked last night on the Nemesis, it was said, for the purpose of guarding the river off Kemendine. The commissariat guards were strengthened last night, and detachments under the command of European officers were stationed at Kemendine and Poozandoon.-Ibid.

PROME.

We extract the subjoined letters from Prome, dated 18th November, 1853, 10 P.M.

"The prisoners here broke out of jail this evening at or about six o'clock P.M., heavy firing was kept up for a good hour-and the Ramgurgh Irregulars charged in amongst the convicts. A great massacre was the result. I have just heard that about forty prisoners succeeded in making their escape out of jail. Of this number between thirty and thirty-five are returned as killed and wounded, and the remainder got scot free. One sepoy on our side (the sentry at the gate) was wounded rather severely in the rush.

"All sorts of rumours here-one is rather startling, to the effect that an army of Burmans are between this and Meeaday. How they came there no one knows. Another large army is on the advance from Ava towards us. The head-quarters of the 2nd E.B. Fusiliers are to remain in Prome and the 1st will have to go to Meeaday."-Rangoon Chronicle, Nov. 26.

Our latest intelligence from Capt. Smith's district is dated the 19th, and represent that part of the country to be perfectly quiet and the river to be entirely free from dacoits. The weather would also appear to be delightful up there, as the average range of the thermometer is said to be 75° at noon, and 70° dawn.-Ibid.

In our last issue we noticed that important stations of the town had guards placed there. This was done as secretly as possible in order not to alarm the inhabitants, of that which we have so often croaked upon. But as there was something "i'the wind," we were naturally on the alert.-Ibid.

The town was to have been taken on Wednesday morning, at seven o'clock. It was a well-planned scheme, and had not our authorities taken time by the forelock the consequence would have been dreadful.

The head conspirator was seized by the deputy commissioner a little before the time which the insurgents had appointed for their work of massacre, and thus ended the first lesson.-Ibid.

BENGAL.

NORTH-WEST FRONTIER.

"Camp, Adeezaee, Nov. 27th, 1854. "Since my last letter to you we have scarcely done anything worth writing to you about. We moved to this ground about a fortnight ago, and since then have been marking out the fort and making roads. Some days ago we were in hope of going at the Afreedees; but they have come to terms, and given in to us, with their usual promises of never again troubling us. Our only chance now of any fighting is with the Borees," but whether or not we are to be sent against them, I cannot tell. The camp is becoming dull, and one does nothing but walk about all day long. The mountain train and guide infantry have joined us, and will, I fancy, remain until everything is quiet. I am tired of the dull life, and wish myself back into cantonments again. The nights are dark, and two nights ago we had a couple of shots fired into camp. This place is very healthy, and all the Peshawur invalids are recovering. Gen. Roberts has, we hear, been very ill, and obliged to leave Peshawur.

"Mr. John Lawrence and Major Edwardes, with their camp, are still with us. I hope in a day or two to see the fort begun ; and should anything occur will let you bear."

Since writing the above, we have received the important intelligence that a gallant and most successful operation had been planned and carried out against the refractory. To render the measures for effectually opening the Kohat pass complete, it became absolutely necessary to prove to these people, that their hills and valleys were accessible to well-organised troops, and that they were to be beaten on their own ground. Intimation of the necessity of resorting to compulsion having been communicated by the political, authorities to Colonel Boileau, now commanding the

whole held force" he had rejoined the 22nd foot, on Brigadier ? Breton returning to assume command of the Sind Sagur district), in the course of Nov. 28th, the following party was directed to hold itself in readiness for active service on the following morning :--·} kimi

"The whole of the mountain mule train.

Two guns of Capt. Delamain's 9-pounder battery, which it was however found necessary to send back under escort of 200 Goorkas, whose services were thus lost to the detachment. 400 men of H.M.'s 22nd regiment;

200 men of the 20th N.I.;

400 of the 66th, or Goorka regiment; And 450 of the Guides.

The force, which was commanded by Col. Boileau, who had the advantage of being most materially assisted in his operations by Lieut.-Col. Napier and Major Edwardes, marched from camp at 5 A.M. on the morning of the 29th November; and preliminary arrangements having been made, the outer range of hills was penetrated at two points, distant about one and a half mile from eech other. Through the first, deriving its name from the village of Kundao, went the gallant Guides, with the intention of taking the enemy in flank, and so successful were they in this manoeuvre, that on the main body entering the Shergush pass further on, they found it evacuated, though the of maize half roasted, which were ing embers, and certain heads on the heights, clearly proved that they had only just been abandoned by the hill men, who had no mind to be taken in rear by the guides.

On deploying from the pass at the foot of the inner side of the outer range, the force was reunited, and found itself on a small plain, in a valley much resembling that of Kangra, with the three villages of the Borees before them, at the foot of some precipitous crags: these, it at once became apparent, must be carried before the villages could be attacked and destroyed. The service devolved on two detachments of the Goorkas and the Guides, commanded by Lieutenants Hodgson and Turner, respectively; and the style in which the latter, especially, whose party met with the greatest resistance, drove the enemy from crag to rock, and from rock to crag, and finally kept them at bay from eleven in the morning till three in the afternoon, was the admiration of the whole force, who could plainly see the onslaught, especially a fierce struggle that lasted a whole hour, for the possession of a breast-work, which appeared inaccessible from below, but was ultimately carried by the Guides in the face of the determined resistance of the Affreedees, who fought for every inch of ground.

During these operations on the hills the three villages were burnt, and it was only the want of powder that prevented the whole of the succession of small towers being blown into the air. The powder was in charge of the sappers, who unfortunately fell into the rear, and having done so, received orders to stand fast at the Shergush pass, where they were joined by the chief commissioner, who had thence a full view of the whole of the operations. The scene, on the principal village being set on fire, with the clouds of smoke rising up the hills, was grand and solemn.

The work for which the force had entered the valley having been thus fully achieved, the retreat commenced at three P.M., and then the difficulties of the detachment commenced, for, as is well known, the Afghans are familiar with the art of following, though they will rarely meet an enemy. The withdrawal of the Guides and Goorkas from the heights was most exciting, and none but the best officers and the best men could have achieved this duty with such complete success. Lieut. Hodgson's tactics were of the most brilliant description, and the whole force having been once more re-united in the plain, they marched out of the valley by the Turoonee pass, which, though furthest from the British camp, was the shortest to the outer plains, on emerging into which they were joined by the chief commissioner from the Shergush pass. The force did not return to camp till between ten and eleven at night, having been out nearly eighteen hours, many of the men without food, and almost all without water, the small supply which had been carried out having soon been exhausted, and none being procurable at Boree.

Not an officer of the detachment was touched, and only eight men killed and twenty-four wounded. When the force first entered the valley, there were not more than 200 Borees in arms to resist; but before they returned, the number had increased to some three thousand, tens and twenties pouring in all the morning from all the villages and hamlets within many miles, intelligence of the attack being conveyed to them by the firing.

The whole of this gallant affair was evidently well planned and well executed, and the praise earned by the troops most just. The attack will strike terror into the hearts of the recusants, and they, as well as the hill tribes in general, have learnt that no rocks, however inaccessible they may seem, no defiles through which our troops have to pass, and no breastworks the enemy may erect, can, nor will protect them.-Hurkaru.

KUSSOWLIE, Nov. 26.-A barbarous

was on

here last night, or rather early this morning, on the permitted

Pensr. Sergeant J. Hannan. The murderer or murderers broke open a door in the deceased's house, and cut and stabbed him in several places; one stab below the left ear, apparently with a large knife, must have caused instantaneous death. The deceased lived quite alone, having but one servant, and must have been about fifty-five years of age: he had been for some months suffering from ill-health, which so reduced him that he could have offered but a feeble resistance to any one; but the probability is that he was surprised in bed while asleep. He was possessed of considerable property, and no doubt the motive which influenced his murderers was the hope of finding a large sum of money in the house; several boxes were broken open, but it is not known whether or not they contained any money. A track of blood was found from the deceased's house for a considerable distance, through the Regimental Bazar, to the Kalka-road; but owing to the absence of any civil or military authorities at this station, at present, no trace of the murderers have as yet been discovered.

Nadir Khan, the son of the Maudla Jugheerdar, who was the originator of the recent attempted outbreak in the vicinity of Murree and Rawul Pindee, suffered the penalty of death, at the latter station, on the moruing of the 19th inst. Tali Mahomed, one of the followers, who fired the shot that was nearly proving fatal to the commissioner, Mr. Thornton, was hung at the same time with his master.

Ramdass, the fukeer who personated the late Peshora Sing, was seized in Maharaja Goolab Singh's territories, and sent in a prisoner to Rawul Pindee. He and Nadir Khan's other fellowconspirator, Jafir Khan Golrah, are now undergoing their trial; and will most probably be transported for life. MUTTANEE.

The following is dated Camp Muttanee, 3rd November:-" Nearly all the available troops in camp started yesterday morning to burn and destroy the villages in the Booree valley. Our force consisted of 450 Guides, the mountain train battery, about 400 H.M.'s 22nd, 450 Goorkhas, and 180 20th N.I.; the whole were under arms at 4 A.M., commanded by Col. Boileau, of H.M.'s 22nd. Our party, after crossing the hills between Kundas and the main Afreedie range, defiled into the valley without opposition at half past 10. A snug, peacefullooking spot it is, with its four prosperous and comfortable villages, each defending the other, and flanked by three or four towers immediately under the hills on the further side of the valley. The two villages to our left were carried and fired by the 22nd boys and a party of Goorkhas, who made uncommonly short work of it, whilst the two on the right were similarly disposed of by Turner's division of the Guides, under cover of the mountain train guns, whose practice was first-rate. Their occupants were soon expelled, closely followed by Turner's men, who eventually drove their adversaries up the hill side to the left and over the crest. Meantime these almost inaccessible heights, which by the way commanded the aforesaid villages, were, in spite of a most determined opposition on the part of the Afreedies, who disputed the ground step by step, carried in to the right in splendid style by Hodgson's division of the Guides and the Goorkhas. No description of mine can give you an idea of the admirable manner in which these gallant fellows, Guides and Goorkhas, did their work; depend on it, this crowning of the Booree heights was one of the finest pieces of light infantry performance on record; it was, moreover, one which Avitabile, with 10,000 Seikhs, was unable to accomplish. The skirmishers were recalled at about 3 o'clock. The Ghoorkhas descending by a gorge in the steep front of the hill, closely followed by the Afreedies, who kept up a galling fire to the last; the steadiness of skirmishers in their descent was the admiration of all.

"The Guides, Ghoorkhas, and part of the 22nd, were warmly engaged in the rear as the column retired, which it did by a more practicable route than it had entered by, and finally reached camp at 10 P.M., pretty well done up, as you may fancy. Our day's works cost us the lives of five Guides, four Goorkhas, and one private of H.M.'s 22nd, with nine guides, eight Goorkhas, four of H.M.'s 22nd and one artillery man, wounded; not a heavy loss considering what was effected in the face of a determined resistance on the part of our enemies, who are the bravest fellows and the best marksmen of all the Afreedie tribes. Our political arrangements were excellent. Mr. Lawrence, Major Edwardes, Colonel Napier, and Captain James, were present, also several amateurs from cantonment."

PESHAWUR, Nov. 21.-"Capt. Coke was wounded the other day in the head; he went with a party of villagers who were going to attack a hostile tribe, just to keep them in countenance and show them the way, but they ran off and left him alone, and he was wounded by a matchlock-ball, but not seriously. "A horrible murder was was committed here a day or two ago, by a man belonging to the corps Guides. He cut a woman to

1

pieces, and wounded two men badly; after which he ran away to an old tower or burj in the lines occupied by the Guides when in cantonment, mounted the summit, and then waiving his sword over his head, like a second Horatius Cocles, bid defiance to the army of chowkedars, headed by the gallant cantonment magistrate. The latter, however, got over the hero by force of argument, and induced him at length to throw down his sword, when he was seized. All the men in the Guide corps look pretty nearly as if they were ready for anything from pitch and toss to manslaughter at any hour of the day or night-perhaps they make all the better

soldiers for that.

"There was a severe shock of an earthquake felt here last night, Nov. 20th. It occurred exactly as the eight o'clock gun fired, and seemed as if it was the effect of the report; but it was too severe to be mistaken, as it made the houses shake. Another severe shock was felt at Peshawur on Dec. 6th, which it is stated must have caused great destruction in Affghanistan.

"Our general is gone, and the brigadier is soon to follow. Brigadier Salter being promoted to a senior class brigadier, leavesshortly for Agra, it is said.

"The 2nd battalion of artillery arrived yesterday in the course of the general relief."

"4th Dec.-There has been another attempt at assassination committed here or in the neighbourhood. Lieut. Godby, attached to the cavalry of the guide corps (the infantry have been lately employed with the detachment in the Kohat Pass), was stabbed yesterday in the back by a man, who, on some pretence or other, obtained access to him when he was on parade. The guide corps, with the exception of a portion of them at Mattannee, are in the Eusafzye country, where they are building a cantonment. Unfortunately there was no medical officer there at the time, and the wounded officer had no one to attend him but a native doctor. Some accounts say the wound is not mortal, and I trust this is the case. As soon as intelligence of the outrage was brought to Peshawur, Dr. Lyell hastened out to afford medical aid. Little or nothing is known of the motives which led to the commission of the crime. It is surmised that Lieut. Godby was mistaken for Lieut. Hodgson, commandant of the guide corps, and assistant-commissioner in the Eusafzye. Col. Mackeson was murdered while sitting in his verandah reading a note; here is an officer severely wounded, to say the least, while sitting on his horse on parade, with a number of his men about him.

"P.S.-Recent accounts give a more favourable report of Lieut. Godby's wound.”

COL. BOILEAU'S CAMP.-The subjoined is our latest news from the camp of Colonel Boileau, near Adeezace :—

"Camp Bazeed Khel, Dec. 8, 1853.-Since my last letter we have had a few changes in our camp. The Guides and Mountain Train have left us, and our force now consists of the 22nd regiment, 20th Native Infantry, 66th regiment, 7th Irregular Cavalry, and Captain Delamain's battery. We have not yet succeeded in getting the water from the spring to the fort, and have therefore not begun to build the latter. Our roads are getting on well, and will soon be ready for our patrols. I was sorry to see a few mistakes in your account of the Boree expedition; everything we did is attributed to the Guides, and nothing is said of the Mountain Train, the 22nd regiment, or the 66th. I can assure you, the latter especially did good service, and had some of the hardest fighting of the day; the Mountain Train also was very useful, and did its duty well. The 22nd crowned the heights on our coming out of the valley, and have lost one man since from wounds received that day. The sappers and miners, with the powder, did not 'fall into the rear,' but were ordered back before they got to the top of the hill, over which we passed. I hope you will correct these mistakes, as I like to see justice done to all parties.

THE MUTLAH RIVER.

It appears that the vessels despatched on a survey of that river, after returning to Calcutta, have submitted to Government their report, which, it is stated, is more favourable than the most sanguine could have ventured to anticipate. In short, with a little expense, vessels could, by that channel, be brought within fifteen miles from Calcutta; and if the Tolly Nullah Canal be availed of, there is nothing to prevent them from casting anchor in the very harbour of this town. Under these circumstances the idea of a railway from the Mutlah, in preference to a canal, is dying away of itself; and the opinion we have all along expressed about the advisibility of a canal will, eo ipso, become practically established. We have frequently argued this important question, and are now the more strengthened in the views we have taken, as from and circumstances since elicited, it is clear that, leaving every th other matter out of consideration, even in mere point of expense, a canal will in the end be found the more economical of the two. It has been ascertained that, in order to guard against the effects of inundation, it would be necessary to throw up embankments of

more than usual solidity, and that with regard to the peculiarity of the soil, a long time must necessarily elapse before such embankments get properly settled. Considering the extent of the traffic which must ensue between Calcutta and the port in the Mutlah, it is obvious that a double line of rails would be altogether insufficient, in fact, nothing less than a quadruple rail would answer, and hence, the embankments must, at the very least, be made of double the breadth. Moreover, the quantity of soil required must be thrown on the particular line marked out, thereby causing additional outlay.

Taking, therefore, these circumstances into consideration, a railway could not be constructed under at least treble the cost of ordinary Indian lines, and this we have little doubt would bring up the expense fully to that of cutting a canal, which in every other respect has the preference, nor can there be the least question which of the two, a canal or railway, would yield the better return. If a canal is once cut, a railway will soon follow. The very soil that is thrown up on its borders will form the embankments for the rails.

But there is another and very powerful reason for the advocacy of the canal. A railway would be a direct taxation upon the commerce of this country and upon passengers, not so a canal. The train line for the conveyance of both must be paid either by the respective parties, or by the ships conveying goods and passengers to Bengal. In the former case, and especially with regard to goods, the expense must be added to the original cost-in the latter it must be made up by a corresponding increase in the rates of freight, and hence in either case is an indirect tax upon the commerce of the country. Quite the contrary with a canal. The average expense of bringing up a ship of 1,000 tons from the Sandheads to Calcutta, is for pilotage and steam hire about Rs. 1,200. Supposing, then, that tolls at the rate ef eight annas per ton wore levied on any ship passing through the canal, it would cause an additional outlay of Rs. 500 to the ship, which, we are quite convinced, would not make the least difference in either the rates of freight or passage. Moreover, it must be borne in mind, that such expense will partly be met by a reduction in the charge for pilotage.

If the river Mutlah is once made the channel of access to Calcutta, it follows that the occupation of pilots in the Hooghly ceases, and must be transferred to the Mutlah, and as all vessels, with the exception of native crafts, are compelled to take pilots, all ships must, as a matter of course, come up through the canal. Referring to the last official returns, we observe that the aggregate amount of tonnage, exclusive of native crafts for the year 1852-53, was

We have a net income of Rs. 303,887-10 Which to yield a return of 6 per cent. per annum, would constitute a capital of Rs. 50,64,766. Will anybody assert that for such an amount a canal could not be cut? And we may further ask whether, with an almost sure return of six per cent., and with the steadily increasing commerce of the country, any difficulty could be anticipated in the creation of a private company in the event of Government not wishing to undertake the work themselves? We still maintain a canal is the thing, and we believe that our views are shared by all those who have given the subject the attention it deserves.-Hurkaru.

FACTS FROM TRAVANCORE.

After delays and difficulties which appeared interminable, after every description of intrigue had been employed to frustrate the efforts of the Resident, and after the kingdom had been distracted by a succession of rumours, the rajah of Travancore issued the following proclamation :

"With a view to the amelioration of the condition of the slave population, without at the same time doing injury to the other inhabitants, the following proclamation is issued.

1st. That the children of Sirkar slaves which are born after the date of this proclamation shall be free.

2nd. That such persons though free must maintain the same regard for caste restrictions as has hitherto been observed.

3rd. That private slaves do not constitute property which can be seized in pursuance of decrees of courts or other orders for arrears of rent or taxes.

4th. That slaves are at liberty to purchase and hold property like the other inhabitants, and that their masters and others are forbidden to appropriate any such property to themselves.

5th. That injustice done to slaves will be regarded as a breach of the 6th regulation of the year 1010, and will be punished accordingly.

6th. That in the case of property falling to the Sirkar through want of heirs, the slaves connected with such property be regarded as free.

7th. That slave parents and children are not, without their consent, to be sold and separated more than fifteen miles from each other.

8th. That the pay of slaves working for the Sirkar is to be the same as that of free labourers.

9th. That both Sirkar and private slaves are to receive a moderate allowance in the time of sickness and of old age.

10th. That children under fourteen years of age are not to be employed in work beyond their years and ability.

11th. That a register is to be kept of all births and deaths among the Sirkar slaves, that notice of births and deaths is to be given to the Proverthycaren within thirty days of their occurrence, and that a fine be imposed in case a proper register be not kept."

A

The decree has been carefully prepared. To all outward appearance it really accomplishes the two objects it professes to secure, a gradual emancipation of the slaves, and an immediate amelioration of their condition. In any other country, in the United States or Surinam, in Cuba or the Philippines, it might be received as the act of warm philanthropists, fettered only by the consciousness, that they are dealing with property, however unjustly acquired. It is only those who are acquainted with the infinite intrigue, which can be brought to bear on a native court, and the infinite baseness by which some native tribunals are distinguished, who can thoroughly comprehend the proclamation. It professes to effect all the abolitionists could desire, and is in reality but a hesitating step in advance. The slaves, as we have frequently repeated, are divided into two classes. large number work for the Government, are legally the proproperty of the rajah, and practically the property of the State. They will become free. The law is distinct, the Rajah will scarcely risk another despatch from the Court of Directors, and no private interests are involved in the act of emancipation. Private slaves are not enfranchised. The slaveholders have been too strong alike for Rajah, Resident, and Court. They are, however, nominally raised from the condition of slaves into that of serfs, are recognised as human beings, may hold property, and are defended like freemen from assault and murder. They must not be overworked until they are of age to bear the infliction without actually perishing, and the aged and the sick must receive a "moderate allowance," instead of dying of starvation by the wayside. The provisions are humane, but they are ineffectual. They are intended for a state of society where officials do not exist by corruption, where perjury is not a jest, and where public opinion has been humanized by civilization. They succeeded in New York, and they must fail in Trevandrum. The resident is powerless beyond the limit of his personal observation, and the slaveholder has the svpport of Rajab, courts, and people. There is no one to see that a venal tribunel shall listen to their complaints, shall protect the property the master is inclined to seize, or save the overworked serf he is inclined to starve. And that he is so inclined, is evident from the simple fact, that these things are done every day, and that it has been necessary to employ a compulsion which amounts to force, to procure even a verbal denunciation of them.

There may be a few among our readers, who have believed us guilty of some exaggeration in describing the condition of these unfortunate outcasts. To all such the proclamation must be conviction, for what must be the condition of a community to which the 9th clause is a boon? By this decree it is acknowledged that in Travancore slaves are chattels liable to seizure by decree of Court. That in Travancore children under fourteen are overworked, torn from their parents, and sold to a distance. That the property of the slave is at the disposal of his master, and that the aged, and the sick, those worn out with labour, and those who have become incapable of further exertion, are left by the master, whose wealth has been swelled by both, without even "a moderate allowance." These facts are stated, not by missionaries whose feelings have been overwrought by the daily spectacle of misery, not by journalists anxious to terminate at any cost an iniquity so glaring, but by the rajah himself in a grave official decree. Every assertion we have made has been justified out of the rajah's own mouth, and in clause X. he adds a shade of blackness to the picture, from which even our own correspondents have hitherto refrained.

We believe that this effort at amelioration will in practice be almost futile. One hundred thousand slaves will still remain subject

to a bondage, which if once explained in the House of Commons might bring the new Charter Act to a summary termination. The efforts of the Court of Directors have liberated only a portion, and we cannot believe that they will rest satisfied. They have acted hitherto with a philanthropy and a promptitude worthy of every commendation, and their partial success may serve to prove how easily they might achieve complete reform. Emancipation, either present or prospective, is the only means by which it can be accomplished; and the Court, we feel satisfied, will not shrink from enforcing it, even should they be compelled to resort to the last alternative. The nineteenth century is scarcely the time for disquisitions on the proprietory right in human beings.

The whole condition of this territory appears to demand searching investigation and reform. In none of the tributary kingdoms is so large a revenue so utterly thrown away, in none is so large a population surrendered so absolutely to the misgovernment of a semi-sacred dynasty. In 1839, General Fraser, then resident at Trevandrum, ordered Lieut. Horsley to report upon its condition, capabilities, and prospects. That report, drawn up with a minute carefulness which reminds us of Buchanan, is now before us, and we are informed that it is as accurate now as it was fifteen years ago. On an area of some six thousand six hundred square miles the size of Yorkshire, more than half of which is covered with hill and jungle, dwelt at that time a million and two hundred thousand souls. The revenue, raised chiefly by a land tax, but in part from monopolies of arrack, pepper, salt, and timber, amounted to Rs. 37,24,144. The taxation therefore amounted to six shillings a head, considerably more than the rate in British India, and its weight was increased by the oppressive mode of collection found in all purely native states. This great revenue is simply thrown away, in the maintenance of an oppressive religious aristocracy. Travancore has never been conquered by the Mussulmans. It is as Hindoo as it was in the golden age, and like the Papal States displays the inherent vices of sacerdotal dominion in their most exaggerated type. The Brahmins, some 300,000 in number, are maintained in idleness at the expense of the State. In Indore the revenues are wasted on the soldiery, but they at least may at some distant period serve to increase the forces of the empire. In Oude they are wasted by sheer mismanagement, but still they enrich a great territorial aristocracy, who though more oppressive than the barons of Stephen, or the seigneurs of Louis XI. still keep alive the habitual valour of the class, from which the ranks of our army are supplied. In Travancore, even this wretched apology is wanting. The revenues go to mendicants, who give to the State the prayers of the most vicious class of an Oriental population. To three thousand temples planted in every corner, we must add a series of Dhurmsalas, or poor houses, which differ from those of England only in this, that their pauper inmates are the masters of the country. Of the total net revenue, eight lacs, or nearly a clear third, was in 1839 wasted on these institutions. The proportion has not, we understand, been diminished. The judicial establishments cost but Rs. 74,000, the troops but Rs. 1,29,000, the police but Rs. 40,000, the public works but Rs. 82,000. The whole of the remainder, with the exception of the cost of the monopolies, is swallowed by the palace and the priests. Governed by an administration like that of Mysore, the province might add to the finances of Madras two hundred thousand pounds.-Friend of India.

THE MEDICAL SERVICE.

It is now more than six years since one hundred and eightyfour surgeons and assistant-surgeons on the Bengal establishment, with the late Dr. Corbyn at their head, forwarded a petition to the Court of Directors. In that document, all the grievances of the service, their inferior pay, the unjust distinction between themselves and other officers of the army in the matter of leave, and the deficiency of prizes for the able and ambitious, were fairly and temperately set forth. The subject, however, to which the attention of the Court was most earnestly directed, was the extreme tardiness of promotion. It was shown to be impossible, under the present system, for a medical officer to reach the higher grades of his profession, until his frame had been exhausted by battling with disease in a dangerous climate, or until old age had diminished the energies necessary to render those appointments something better than "silver cushions." The senior superintending-surgeon had been forty years in India, the seniorsurgeon thirty-eight, the senior assistant surgeon seventeen, and there appeared but little probability of any improvement in the prospects of the service. The answer to the petition is not before us, but from that day to the present, little or nothing has been done to remedy the evils then brought under the consideration of the Home authorities. Reports have from time to time been

circulated and denied, that the Court of Directors have at length become aware of the real tendency of the present system. Rumours have been regularly received of an alteration in the tenure of staff appointments, of a large increase of the circles of superintendence, of the creation of a new grade of first-class surgeons, and finally of a great addition to the ranks of the service itself.

The last rumour only has proved correct. The enlargement of our territories, the gradual absorption of native states, the increase of the army, and the growing disposition of the service to retire as soon as they are entitled to their pensions, rendered the concession imperatively necessary. Accordingly, the Calcutta Gazette of Saturday, the 10th instant, announces that ten surgeons, and forty-one assistant-surgeons have been added to the list. The notification, we fear, will create much bitter disappointment. It is true, it raises the numerical strength of the service almost to an equality with its duties, provides officers for the Punjab, and for Pegu, and removes the necessity for placing native sub-assistantsurgeons in charge of great military stations. It is true also, that it is equivalent to twelve months' promotion to all now who are upon the list, and that it will be felt as a boon by those who count every month which intervenes between them and promotion. But the service, as such, is not benefited. It is in fact rather less worth competing for than it was before, for the addition only increases the disparity between the higher and lower grades, and diminishes the chance of obtaining the annuities when the covenanted period of service has expired. In 1836, when Scinde was yet unconquered, and the Sikhs still in possession of the Punjab, when Sumbhulpore belonged to its rajah, and Pegu was known only as a place where we had expended millions of treasure, there were three hundred and sixty medical officers on the roll. Of these, one-third, or 120, including the staff, were surgeons. At the commencement of the present year, after we had added 100,000 square miles, and 8,000,000 people to our dominions, the authorized number was 354. It had actually decreased, as the necessity for additional numbers became more palpaply evident. Nor was this all. While the grade of "Subordinate Superintendents" had ceased to exist, and the emoluments of the service, as of every other department, had been seriously diminished, the proportion of surgeons to assistants had scarcely varied. It was still 129 to 230 or thirty-five per cent. of the entire number. By the present addition, the disparity between the numbers of the two grades becomes still more conspicuous. The service is increased to four hundred and ten members, but its rate of promotion is diminished two per cent., and the superior grade includes only thirty-three per cent. of the entire number. The effect of such a change upon the prospects of the service requires neither argument nor illustration.

The subject must, however, be considered from a much higher point of view. We contend that by thus reducing the emoluments of their medical servants, the home authorities are weakening their efficiency, and pro tanto injuring the State. Not to speak of the fact, that every such increase insures greater age in those departments, where mature vigour is most urgently required; not to mention the deterioration of character caused by the absence of hope and of all motive to exertion, the future efficiency of an important arm is seriously endangered. The standing and the skill of the men to whom the lives of our officers must be oftentimes entrusted, is no light matter, and every measure which depreciates their position, diminishes also the average ability available.

Men of real ability and high character will not seek to enter a service in which they can hope only for a bare subsistence in a country which with all its advantages is a land of exile, where they lose all opportunity of increasing their scientific acquirements, and where they have little prospect of obtaining reputation. It will doubtless be argued that the pension compensates for every disadvantage, and that to return home in middle life with 500i. a year and a profession is, after all, a better prospect than is offered in England or the colonies. We should at once acknowledge the force of the argument, but that it has no real foundation. Every surgeon now desires to return to Europe as speedily as possible. He cannot hope for promotion, except after years of toil in a climate unsuited to the health of his children, and he prefers the chances of English practice to wasting time, energy, and hope in fruitless expectation. The number of annuities which may be obtained is limited, the competition is severe, and instead of seventeen years, the pension frequently cannot be obtained for twenty. The youngest on the list of applicants this year had served for upwards of twenty years. These facts will speedily be known in England. Men about to compete in public will inquire eagerly into every particular of their future career; and unless the evil is speedily remedied, we stand some chance of obtaining the worst instead of the best specimens of the medical profession.Friend of India, Dec. 15.

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SOME FACTS ABOUT COTTON.

Not

The Bombay Chamber of Commerce does its duty well. to mention its active, and usually beneficial interference in every question connected with commerce which arises in that presidency, it presents us annually with a volume of really valuable information. Instead of joining the Manchester chorus, that Government is the great obstacle to the growth of cotton in India, its members ask for official information, obtain it, and make up their minds as to the facts which those statistics indicate, In their report for 1852-3, just issued, they have filled some 100 pages with returns, old it is true, but containing a complete account of the cotton of Madras, Agra, and Bengal, A similar account of their own presidency, the most important of all in this great field of enterprise, is not as yet forthcoming. Many of the statements published are worthy of attentive consideration. They indicate clearly the real causes which retard the supply of the Manchester mills from Goruckpore, Dacca, and Kurnool, and prove that it is not the Indian Government which is responsible for the deficiency. In fact, the chamber appears anxious to clear away this fallacy, which has long impeded rational and systematic effort, and which could have had its origin only among men whose ideas have been warped by the pressure of an ever present and overwhelming necessity.

To the inhabitants of the north of England, the cotton crop is what the price of bread is to the Frenchman, a thing without which he cannot exist, and which he therefore watches with an anxiety which beclouds his reason. As the Parisian, when his bread increases in price, considers a barricade and a revolution the best remedies for the scarcity, so the Manchester manufacturer seeks by the overthrow of the Court of Directors, to mitigate his losses from the scarcity in Louisiana. The one cry is as unreasonable as the other, if only because human selfishness influences governments and citizens alike. Louis Napoleon has a direct personal motive for making bread cheap, and the Indian Government has a direct motive to extend the cultivation of cotton. It would relieve it of one great difficulty, the superabundance of the article by the production of which the ryot pays his rent. Were India to become the cotton field of Europe, its revenue would admit of almost indefinite expansion. The wealth which now circulates through the Southern States, would then find its way into the Indian Treasury, a great harvest would no longer be regarded with alarm, and the Government with an elastic revenue might launch into undertakings it can at present scarcely contemplate. We should not repeat facts of which every one is aware, but it is only by iteration to the point of weariness, that we can hope to disabuse the public mind of an idea which at present impedes exertion most materially. There is a class in England which is almost monomaniac on two ideas, India can supply our cotton, and the Court of Directors prevent it from so doing.

What then are the causes which prevent the cultivation of cotton? The returns point to two, all of which are removable by only one expedient. The first is the absence of a certain market, the second the absence of European supervision.

First. The absence of a demand. In the report from Madras, a most concise and able paper drawn up by the secretary to the Board of Revenue, it is admitted at once that the cotton can be grown. In that presidency an area of 860,000 acres is already covered with the native plant, and its produce is disposed of somewhere. The ryots therefore are obviously not indisposed to the cultivation, simply as such. Eight hundred thousand acres are not planted, we may presume, at a loss, more especially by a race who appreciate the outturn of different crops, with a nicety beyond anything exhibited by English farmers. This, however, is only the indigenous cotton, which is worth little in England, and the cultivation of which is limited by the limitation of the demand. The instant the latter is increased, the cultivation increases with it. Mr. Bayley, after noticing the increase over the cultivation of last year, says, "it is attributed to the season having been favourable to the cultivation of cotton, and to enhanced prices prevailing in the market, and creating a demand for the same." The collector of Bellary repeats almost the same words, while the agent in Kurnool is even more explicit. He says: "The increase in the extent of cultivation of this article in this year is ascribed to the favourable prospects of the season at the period when the sowing operations commenced, and to the high prices at which the article was at that time selling, owing to the deficient supply of the previous year."

The collector of Madura thinks:-"The season was somewhat less favourable for cotton than other products, as it is a late crop and there was no rain in December. It was better, however, than that of Fusly, 1259, and an increase will be observed of 11,142 acres, in the extent cultivated.".

The collector of Tinnevelly reports an increase consequent on "steady demand." The collector of Coimbatore says, the increase is steady, the only two interruptions having arisen from

"bad seasons." Throughout Madras there is but one report. It is the same in Bengal. In the district of Dacca the cotton cultivation, once so large, has died away, because the demand for the muslin into which it was manufactured has been destroyed by the influx of cheap goods from Manchester. Mr. Dunbar says:"Nothing disgusts the ryots more readily, than being kept, year after year, to the culture of an unsuccessful crop, even if they are not themselves subjected to loss by the result; they lose heart about it, and become careless; but give them a cultivation which thrives under their hands, and let them see that it only requires to be followed up to pay them well for their labour, and we may rely upon it, it will be taken up with that assiduity which selfinterest and the prospect of gain never fail to engender."

Col. Jenkins reports from Assam that the cultivation could be indefinitely extended, "should any circumstance cause a very trifling rise in price." In all these districts native cotton could be grown to any extent if a sufficient paying demand could be obtained. In the North West, 10,02,040 acres are now covered with the plant, and MrW Muir is inclined to believe that increased demand, and consequently increased price, is the one requisite to produce extended cultivation. Mr. Bruce, Deputy Collector at Cawnpore, says;

"If the associations and manufacturers who have been memorializing and soliciting the authorities in England regarding the increased cultivation of cotton in India actually wish it, and will guarantee that all that may be produced through any exertions in this country, will be taken by them and paid for here, and will send out responsible agents to receive charge of the cotton, either here or at Calcutta, I will engage and undertake to produce for them as much real, good, merchantable cotton as they may require, and not cost them, when landed in England, more than about 3d. per lb., which I think very moderate, considering the Indian cotton generally realizes from 43d. to 5 d. per lb. in England." In fact the report is in every instance the same. Cotton can be cultivated in India to any extent, but not at the present prices.

To obtain a better price, it is necessary that the cotton grown should be of a better quality. To effect this object, the American seed must be introduced, and the American seed appears to fail. It requires a peculiar soil, and even if this difficulty could be obviated, there remains another. The ryot will neither cultivate nor clean it properly. The collector of Cuddapah says, it is a delicate plant," and there is no reason to doubt, that during the process of acclimatization it requires a care and attention which the ryot will not bestow, He will neither watch nor wait, looks only to immediate returns, and does every act in a loose, shambling manner, fatal to careful agriculture.

It may be said that if it succeeds with the negro, it may succeed with the native. We deny the first assertion. The cotton is not cultivated in the southern states by the negro at all. It is true there is a machine on every estate composed of negroes, which performs certain manual tasks, but the cultivator, properly so called, is the white man, and the white man of the shrewdest, most energetic, and best-informed class. We have no proof that if we had on every thousand acres an European overseer, directing every effort, the result would not be as favourable in India as it has been in America. The collector of Cuddapah, who failed in his district, succeeded with the same seed in his garden. In short, we need European supervision.

The result of all this, and we have touched as yet only upon a corner of the subject, is sufficiently plain. If Indian cotton is to supersede that grown in the southern states, it must be cultivated as indigo is cultivated. The ryot who grows indigo is sure of his demand, and is instructed by a skilled European. The ryot who grows cotton must have the same advantages. The chances of the market must be borne by the planter, and not by the peasant, the cleaning must be conducted on a great scale, and then with English capital and English energy, the cultivation may succeed. -Friend of India, Dec. 8.